Caisson



L. L. BROWN AND H. 1. DEUTSCHBEIN.

'AlssoN.

APPLICATION FILED NOV) 9.. I9I6.

5 SHEETS-SHEET I* Patented Feb. 22.,

INVENToRs.

ATTORNEY I VEN TOR Patented Feb 5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Il l//l//l/ CAISSON.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 9. l9l6 L.l L. BROWN AND H. 1. DEUTSCHBEIN.

L. L. BROWN AND'H. J. DEUTSCHBEIN.

' CAISSON. APPLlcTloN FILED Nov.9. |916.

Patented Feb. 22, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4- ATTORNEY L. L. BRWN AND H. L DEUTSCHBEIN CAISSON.

AEPLICATION FILED NOV. 9. |916.

,focas w Y W E R V 0 N. 4N ..1 A ...W y

LOUIS L; isROwN, or Naw vonk. Ann riait 1r. nnurscirnnin ory BROOKLYN, NEW

'elA et T YomQnssiG-Nons To 'fri-rn rorfivnnfrroiv contratti?, Af oonronarioiv QF EW YORK Y p'onrssoiv. -f' 7 .recogen 7 1o all whom it 'may concern.' Y u f Bef itknown that we, Louis L. BROWN and HARRY J. DnUrsoHBn1N fcitizens off the United States, residing .in the city,fc`ounty; and `State of New Yorkand `the borough of Brooklyn; county ofV Kings7 and State of New York; respectively, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Caissons.v of which the following isa specification.' "l

luiinvention aims to provide certain iin-v pi'ovenients in caissons and in the joining thereof. in makinglca-isson foundations for Y buildings it is often desired to. provide a such caissons. 'Y Gui vinvention Vprovides a` continuous wall around the excavation to the depth of the'cellar and any sub-cellars. Also in other constructions it is desiredto make a long wall by the sinking of caissons.

rlhe controlling of the descent of the. caissons cannot be accomplished with great ac-` curacy. lt is impossible to sinkone close up against another. Various vexpediente have been proposed and used for joining simple, cheap and safe method of doing this and provides other advantages referred to in detail hereinafter. r

Figure 1 is a horizontal section ofthe adjacent ends'ofV a pair of caissons lsunk in place ready for the excavation of the'earth between them; i

Fig. '1"L is a partial section of the same showing a fil-ling of concrete *making a joint' between the two caissons;

Fig. 1b is a similarv section'illustrating a modified method;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of an end face `of of the caissons of Fig. 1; Fig. 85 is a longitudinal vertical section through the same caissons;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged ,detail of Fig. 3;

one

Fig. 4a is a'horizontal section of the same;

Figs. 11 and 12are longitudinal i vertical sections of alternative designs;

Fig. 13 isa horizontal section of ystill an'-v other design;

Figs. 14 Aand 15v are respectively a horizontal section and a, vertical longitudinal sectionl (on-the"y line 1 15`+15 ofFig 14)'of lan Aalternative style yofclosureof the joint Speeificationv of Letters Paterna.4 y Pa'gntdffebv. 22, 192i Application filed November 9, 1916. Serial No. 130,398. i i i if rooil `about six" feet above its lowerv or cutting edge,` the space; below being the working chamber andthe shell above, the roof. constituting a permanent coerdain to `hold back the earth. y Such caissons are sunk and then' l filled with concrete vto form the iinishe'd. pier.

Various scheinesha-ve beenl proposed for securing a conci'ete-toconcrete joint'between two adjacent caissons; by withdrawing a portion of4 the "originaltimber' or steel caissonsafter the sinking of them, exposing concreteI within; and then excavating and introducing the joint concrete between the two` caissons. "Une lof .the features of advantage of our inventionl 'ist thatl the joint 1s`made without the removal of any part of'thecaissons.l At the same time a concrete-to-con# crete joint. may beA securedbyreason of the construction oit-the caissons. That is, the l cassions *are4 built with' a body of concrete which is more orl'ess exposed von its oint face. When such 'caissons are sunk an the space between them excavated and-a filling of concrete inserted the latter engages directly the exposedcoiicrete faces of the caissons and makes astrongly cementedfjoint. The jointzor key between the' two caissons may extend downto the cutting edge Yor only v l to the level of the roof ofthe working chamber or to any desired` depth less than that of the roof. Y i

Referring now to the embodiment ofthe invention illustrated, Fig. 1 shows 'the adjacent ends of the concrete bodies A, A of two caissons which are sunk as near to each other'as is practicable; say eight to twelve inches apart; Inf-this case the concrete bodies are formed. above the roof ofl theV working chamber before the caissons are sunk, leaving onlya vertical 'shaft orshafts for access to thejworking'chamber. Timber (or they may bemetal) sides B` are provided as!v forms to hold lthe concrete until it sets. i

They maybe afterward sunk with the cais` v sons where it is cheaperl to dothis than to remove them, or they may be removed. For the ends of the shell in whic'hthe concrete body is to be cast we use metal with aperturestherethrough" so that thefconcre'te may extend to and' form a greater-'for smaller used for the bodies ofcaissons.

' serve as guides for the end closures.

y tance a straight line. 4 guiding heads Gr ofthe opposite caissons portionof the exposed end facesofthe caissons. In the example illustrated we use for this purpose sheets of .perforated sheet 'metal C such'as are commonly used asA permanent centers for cement partitions in Vbuildings and similar-uses, being generally stiiiened by punched out at intervals.

vertical corrugations and caisson we set up the sides B and ends C, using special vertical stlffeners'D for the latter, if necessary, and then apply a thick VVlayer vof plastic material such as cement mortar or fine concrete or the'like asindicated at E upon the inner face of the metal sheet C. This plaster is thick enough to hold itsshape and to extend'throughthe apertures in the sheet metal so l as to form keys which bind it theretovand which are exlposed on theouter face of the metal some- 'caissons are'sunk. v z

lThe ends of the space between the caissons are-then closed. We-have designed a special means for doing this most effectively. iflnibedded in the concrete bodies of the caissons, orotherwise fastened thereto, are anchors F consisting of suitable lengths ofV steell bars of a style commonly used for.

sheet piling and having heads G which Each end closure consists of a strip H of fiexible metal carryingcgrooved end pieces J adapted to fit over the heads G of the anchors, the strips H being preferably stiffened by vertical angles K riveted on their inner faces. After the caissons are vsunk the strips II areV brought linto* engagement withV thev guiding heads (if andare driven by a hammer to the depth 'rec1 el. This clo- Ysure has considerable flexibility to adapt it to this class of work. The .caissons are ordinarily very `large and in sinking them Vit is impossible to follow exactly for a given dis- Conscquently the two may be Yvery far from parallel with each other `or they may be separated a greater or less distance from` that intended or one may' be shifted out of line forward and the other out lof line backward; or vall of these errors may occur in greater or less. degree. The strip H is bowed in horizontal section-to allow horizontal extension and contraction and is sufficiently viiexible to permit it to assume thewarped position necessary as its grooved ends follow' down the opposite guides G, the only substantial stiffness being in. the vertical central portion Where the In building a them.

stiffen'er K is located to permit it tovbe l driven withoutk being substantially bent except vas is necessary to ykeep its engagement vwith the'V opposite caissons.

concrete being integral with the inner layer Y of plaster E which is cemented to ther-bot: of concrete within so as to be practically unitary therewith. The space between is then filled with a body of concrete L (F ig.

la) which unites directly with the concrete exposed on the face of the caissons and thus makes a practicallyv continuous wall of concrete including the concrete bodiesof the caissons and the yconcrete filling between Instead of concrete any equivalent plastic material may be used. Even good clay has been found in some cases to make a substantially tight joint, but hydraulic cementt concrete isto be preferred gen-` erally.

Instead of introducing the body of con-V crete before sinking, the shell consisting of the sides B and the plastered ends may lbe sunk as an open cofierdam above the 9 working chamber and subsequently filled with concrete. In this case` thev sides Bl would have to bemore substantial andv more strongly braced to resist the inwad pressure of the surrounding vearth since thereA wouldbe no concrete wit-hin to support them against such pressure. u n

The use of perforated 'or apertured metal for the ends, and even for the sides, has cer-V tain advangtages also vwith other methods of sinking- For example, by the aid of teurl porary forms the perforated metal can be used without previousplastering. Thesh'ell being set up of sides and perforated metal ends a temporary form of boards Vmay be lplaced outside. the nietal ends: and the Vinterior filling of concrete introduced and allowed to harden, thereafter withdrawing the temporary yend forms, sinking the caissons and excavating and filling the intervening space with `concrete as before. The cross-section of the joint would then appear as in Fig. 1"' withthe concrete bodies A and A and'intermediate filling L of substantially the same concrete passing through the openings in the perforated metal sheets E which reinforce and unite the caissons `more strongly to each other.

Or the same result might be achieved by making a shell as before with'a well braced timber (or steel) end piece outside of the perforated .metal, and designed in known ways so as to permit its subsequent vwithdrawal, sinking the caissons, closing the ends of the intervening space and excavat- VA1o ' .lnffact the apertured metal construction l has considerable 'value even wher the .caissons `are not to be JoinedV to` eachother. lt maybe-usedvfor one' or more ofthe ends yor sides of a caisson .built andsunk inan one of thevforegoing wa svwith 'a .'Y c c Concrete body. In suclrnses it iseconomical and serves tofstiffen the lcaisson and'to reinforce the concrete near the outer faces thereof.

Therrongh face of theimetal aids inprovi'ding an interlocking contact between the caissons and the lioint'jconcretebetweenl them and Ain some cases thisfwill loe-a sufficient connection so that the sheets of'metal need only -b'e 'roughened on their outer faces, without perforation's" throughk them. While this would notgive a concrete-toconcrete joint yet it wouldy have theadvantage of saving they plastering operation which is preferably used in' connection with perforated metal.

Figs. 4 andea illustrate diagrammatically on a larger scale'vthel effect of the plasteringoperation above described; lThe -sheet C of metal is formed with apertures M of any suitable size and arrangement and the plastering coat E passes through such apertures to form an outer face of practically continuous concrete except in the lines of the imperforateraised stiening ribs N of the metal sheet. the same, result can be-achieved with reticulated metal lathing, ordinary expanded metal lathing and a great variety of such materials which are well known.

Fig. 5 shows a variationof the structures where the caissons are to be sunk close 'to a wall O of an adjacent building or the like so that there isnot room for the end closure H to project as in Fig.V 1. In this case the corners of the caissons are rabbeted. either extending the timber sides bv additional strips P and Q to form the desired angle, or similarly shaping the oerforated sheet metal C. The anchors F in this case have their guiding edges located within the rabbet so that there is room for the flexible strip H to be driven.

Fig. 6 illustrates a caisson withr a concrete face which has hardened and from which the side forms have been removed before sinking, the construction being otherwise as in Fig. l. 7 shows a caisson of concrete with one of its faces formed with perforated sheet metal as before, the.

concrete being hardened and the side forms being removed, omitting the anchor for the end closure; illustrating the use of the sheet metal for an ordinary separatev caisson.v

The perforated sheet metal lathing of The same, or practically usual .designs-has small corrugations which aid the interlockingeffect'iny making a joint. -We may,ihowever,use metal' with-y out corrugations.V Orfwemay take-such plain "or such corrugated ,metalv and' shape it to provide comparatively large corrugzbf tionsor verticaligrooves in. the end faces of thel caisson as indicatedffor examplein 8", 9 and In Fig. g8 the caisson the same as lin. Fig. ll 'except that the rend sheet Gis. bent to forniapairv of verticalfl groovesS near one of its edges intow-hich Y the Vjo'int concrete n willpenter lto make la' lirmer", interlock; v similar grooves v being? repeatedf near the'opposite edge or at. 'any desired intervalsin the width `of thegface. Ogr, as in Fig. 9, alarge hexagonal groove Sj-may bei formed inV the 'center of-the width of the end faces. Or, as-in 10,

a broad shallow Vgroovel S2. 'y In any lone.y i' of these threef'cases the side lforms B may Y be varranged as shown in Figs. '8 and 9, ,to

be sunk with the caisson, or maybe removed after the concrete hns-hardened and before sinking, as indicated in Fig. 10.,`

The depth l to which the v apertured 'metal f ends-for'sides of the caissons extend will depend `uponthe conditions lof the work. In

Figs. L11 and lQAare shown-twospecial instances. In Fig.v 11 the caisson has a body A and.` a working chamber with sides T and roof U constituted integrallywith the body, the cutting edge V being formed of steel'an- Y gles. Y The perforated sheets'C extend from the topv of the caisson down toy approximately the top of the roof. A joint between' two such caissons would extend therefore to the same depth and this would be suflicient for most'cases since it is seldom that the.l cellar excavation of a'building goes lower.

the plain concrete ends of the working vchambers might alsobe excavated and filled with concrete. Or, as in Fig. 12 the perforated sheet metal C mavextend clear down to the cutting edge V, thev latter being shaped the same in plan as the sheet metal; in which case we would vsecure all the advantages of our interlocking joint from top tobottom of the caissons. Y

It has been assumed in connection with the structures above described that the adjacent ends of the caissons would be similarly grooved so that the joint concrete would enter grooves symmetrically placed 120 at opposite sides'. The ends of the'caissons may be shaped, however, as in Fig. 13, thev caisson A being formed with a wide groove S3 and the caisson A with a similar tongue W adapted to enter the same as far as the 1.25

This mode of construction facilitates the 1730 .For additional `security the space between into .which enters with some play a fiexi ble strip I-I; anchored .in the caisson A;

The 'caisson A is 'sunk'irst rlhe caisson A is formed adj acentthereto with the Vstrip II extending throughout the height of the caisson. As the latter is sunk the workmen ltherein can exeavate a short distance outside v of the -cutting edge andl for -a suhcient'space f to clear away for the closing strip Hf, subsequently-lling the excavated space with loose'sand Y which will hold the air without substantially retarding the descent of the caisson and that oit' the Vclosing strip H.:

The invention is particularly useful in connection with caissons sunk withvthe aid ofcompressed air. AIt is, however, advantageous in caissons and coferdams of various other sorts than those specifically referred tofand built and sunk by other methods. In fact, though we have described with great particularity of detail certain embodiments of our invention yet it is not to be understood that the invention is restricted to the specific examples illustrated and described. Various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing Y v `from the invention.v Y p Y Y '2. The combination-witha pair of caissons having adjacent end faces 'with vertical v guides thereonofa flexible strip adapted to engage said guidesV at its edgesl andcto be driven in engagement therewith.v

Y 3. Thecombination with a pair offcaissons having adjacentV end facesy with vertical guides thereon of a iiexible strip'adapted to engage said ,guides at its edges land to be driven inl engagement therewith, said flexible strip having a stiffened vertical central portionto facilitate driving the same. Y

In witness 'whereof We have hereunto signed our names. Y Y

Louis nBRowN. Y c `HARRY J.V DEUTSCHBEIN. Y 

